A Search for TeV Gamma-Ray Burst Emission with the Milagro Observatory

Abstract

The Milagro telescope monitors the northern sky for 100 GeV - 100 TeV transient emission through continuous very high energy wide-field observations. The large effective area and low energy threshold of Milagro allow it to detect very high energy gamma-ray burst emission with much higher sensitivity than previous instruments, and a fluence sensitivity at TeV energies comparable to dedicated gamma-ray burst satellites at keV-MeV energies. Observation of gamma-ray burst emission at TeV energies could place important constraints on gamma-ray burst progenitor and emission models. This study details the development of a weighted analysis technique; the implementation of this technique to perform a real time search for TeV transients of 40 seconds to 3 hours duration in the Milagro data; and the results from more than one year of observation. Between May 2nd, 2001, and May 22nd, 2002, no TeV transients of 40 seconds to 3 hours duration were observed. Upper limits on both observed and emitted high energy gamma-ray burst emission are presented.